Four Houston schools get new, non-offensive mascots

Lamar High coach Tom Nolen will be leading Texans onto the football field this fall instead of Redskins. Three other schools also are getting new mascots.

Lamar High coach Tom Nolen will be leading Texans onto the football field this fall instead of Redskins. Three other schools also are getting new mascots.

Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff

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Superintendent Dr. Terry Grier, introducing the mascot names Tuesday at Hamilton, won the HISD board's approval for the stricter school policy in December.

Superintendent Dr. Terry Grier, introducing the mascot names Tuesday at Hamilton, won the HISD board's approval for the stricter school policy in December.

Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff

Four Houston schools get new, non-offensive mascots

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The cafeteria at Hamilton Middle School showcases a painting of a Native American in a feathered headdress. Students wear collared shirts with a similar symbol. They were, until Tuesday, the Hamilton Indians.

Now, with a new school district policy banning mascots deemed culturally offensive, the Houston Heights campus has adopted the Huskies as its symbol, as have the Westbury High School Rebels. The Lamar High Redskins become the Texans, and the Welch Middle School Warriors are the Wolf Pack.

The mascot changes, which could cost taxpayers an estimated $250,000 to replace logos and uniforms, thrust the nation's seventh-largest school district into an ongoing debate between tradition and treatment of Native Americans.

From high schools to colleges, teams have ditched long-standing symbols over the last several decades, yet professional teams like the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians remain steadfast in the wake of concerns expressed by fans, Native American tribes and, more recently, President Barack Obama.

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Houston Independent School District Superintendent Terry Grier, who won school board approval for the stricter mascot policy in December, said the expense to make changes was worth it.

"For us here at HISD, while this day marks the end of an era and sends a message about nurturing our cultural diversity, we do understand the importance of tradition and history," Grier said as he unveiled the new mascots in the Hamilton school cafeteria.

Grier said he was troubled by the Lamar Redskins name shortly after arriving in Houston in 2009, but he didn't push for a change until last year when state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and Native American students and parents upped the pressure.

Some alumni and students protested the new mascot policy, particularly regarding Lamar, but the controversy was measured compared to what Grier recalled experiencing when he replaced mascots as superintendent in Guilford County, N.C., about a decade ago.

Dallas public schools dropped their Native American mascots in the late 1990s. In the last couple of years, however, few, if any, Texas schools have made similar changes, according to Kate Hector of the University Interscholastic League, which oversees athletics and academic contests in the state.

"Usually it's generated by the students of a school," Elliot Hopkins, director of educational services for the National Federation of State High School Associations, said of the push to change mascots. "It's an internal groundswell as opposed to the community at large."

At the four HISD schools, the process to choose new mascots varied, but most included nominations and votes from students and the community.

"Personally I didn't have a problem with it," Ryan Martinez, a seventh-grader at Hamilton, said of the Indians mascot, "but I could see why some people would be offended."

Ethan Fowler, an eighth-grader, agreed. He said he preferred the Honey Badgers, while some classmates lobbied for the Wildcats, after the school in the Disney Channel's "High School Musical."

"The sixth-graders right away from the beginning wanted the Huskies," Fowler said. Their choice won by a 2-to-1 margin.

An HISD handout about the mascot changes said new uniforms for football and volleyball in the fall would cost about $50,000, and the four schools expected to spend more than $38,000 to replace logos on their campuses.

Uniforms for all other sports could drive the total cost up to about $250,000, according to district spokeswoman Sheleah Reed.